"At next week's Intel developer forum, the firm is due to announce a next generation x86 processor core. The current speculation is this new core is going too be based on one of the existing Pentium M cores. I think it's going to be something completely different."

Right. What I had in mind was, they could utilise a number of less-performing but much cheaper cores. So, a multiple-core computer with simpler cores than today's processors would still be very well usable as a desktop machine.

What I had in mind was, they could utilise a number of less-performing but much cheaper cores.

Yep, that's what Microsoft went for with the new X-box.

It would be really interesting to see some numbers on how much bigger a complex out-of-order core actually is compared to a simple in-order one and how much it buys you in terms of pipeline utilisation.

So, a multiple-core computer with simpler cores than today's processors would still be very well usable as a desktop machine.

I wouldn't dispute that.

But existing CPU intensive software would run significantly slower, so in a way it's not backwards compatible, and that's one thing the PC market really hates. Plus, the poor benchmarks would create a big marketing problem.

Apple can kind of afford the occasional incompatible change to their platform because they have a fairly captive market. Intel can't do that while AMD is around, as the Itanium vs AMD64 saga has demonstrated.